ARES South New Jersey Section
ARES Report Forms Video : https://youtu.be/vfUVvOYsTu0
Gloucester County ARES Participates in American Red Cross Drill
By Karl Frank, W2KBF, GC-ARES Coordinator
On Saturday, November 14 hundreds of radio amateurs across the USA participated in a joint ARES/ARC emergency communications drill. The purpose was to test the ability of ARES operators to deliver digital messages to the Red Cross using the WINLINK Radio Messaging System. Two Gloucester County ARES members, Jerry WW2WTF and Karl W2KBF, successfully transmitted drill messages using WINLINK and received confirmation of receipt from the appropriate Red Cross Divisional Clearinghouse Station (tactical Call ARCNORTHEAST). Digital messaging using FLDIGI and WINLINK has gained importance in the EMCOMM community and is practiced during the weekly GC-ARES/RACES Training Net on Sunday evenings over the W2MMD 2 Meter repeater.
By Karl Frank, W2KBF, GC-ARES Coordinator
On Saturday, November 14 hundreds of radio amateurs across the USA participated in a joint ARES/ARC emergency communications drill. The purpose was to test the ability of ARES operators to deliver digital messages to the Red Cross using the WINLINK Radio Messaging System. Two Gloucester County ARES members, Jerry WW2WTF and Karl W2KBF, successfully transmitted drill messages using WINLINK and received confirmation of receipt from the appropriate Red Cross Divisional Clearinghouse Station (tactical Call ARCNORTHEAST). Digital messaging using FLDIGI and WINLINK has gained importance in the EMCOMM community and is practiced during the weekly GC-ARES/RACES Training Net on Sunday evenings over the W2MMD 2 Meter repeater.
ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET)
By Karl Frank, W2KBF
Update : October 3, 2020
The SET went well today. Thanks to all who sent and received drill messages and special thanks to Bob KD2NEC for serving as NCS, Michael N2SRO for serving as alternate NCS and Liaison to OEM and Jim N2GXJ for serving as SKYWARN liaison. By my count, we handled 7 reports of severe weather and 5 reports of severe damage. Eight of these messages were digital, either with FLDIGI/FLMSG or Winlink. Perhaps we can collect feedback during the Sunday night ARES/RACES Net when Bruce KD2LBU will be NCS.
Participants :
Karl Frank, W2KBF
Gloucester County ARES Emergency Coordinator
kbfrank3@verizon.net
By Karl Frank, W2KBF
Update : October 3, 2020
The SET went well today. Thanks to all who sent and received drill messages and special thanks to Bob KD2NEC for serving as NCS, Michael N2SRO for serving as alternate NCS and Liaison to OEM and Jim N2GXJ for serving as SKYWARN liaison. By my count, we handled 7 reports of severe weather and 5 reports of severe damage. Eight of these messages were digital, either with FLDIGI/FLMSG or Winlink. Perhaps we can collect feedback during the Sunday night ARES/RACES Net when Bruce KD2LBU will be NCS.
Participants :
- KD2NEC, Bob (NCS)
- N2SRO, Michael (alternate NCS and OEM liaison)
- N2GXJ, Jim (SKYWARN liaison)
- WA3SVW, Gary
- W2FJM, Frank
- W2KBF, Karl
- W2OC, Mark
- KD2URI, Jerry
- WA3KOL, Bob (Salem County ARES liaison)
- KD2LBU, Bruce
- KC2VAR, Marc
- KB2RTZ, Steve (NTS liaison)
- KC2STO, Charlie
- WB2ALJ, Tom (DEC)
Karl Frank, W2KBF
Gloucester County ARES Emergency Coordinator
kbfrank3@verizon.net
ARES 2020 Simulated Emergency Test Is Scheduled For October 3, 2020
By Karl Frank, W2KBF
Update : September 21, 2020
Gloucester County Radio Amateurs are preparing for the annual ARRL/ARES 2020 Simulated Emergency Test (SET) that will take place on Saturday, October 3rd. The purpose of the annual SET is for amateur radio operators to apply their emergency communications skills in a realistic simulation of an emergency event that could occur. The SET is not a contest, but an opportunity to practice operating. All interested Radio Amateurs are invited to participate; membership in ARRL, ARES, or RACES is not required. If you are interested in emergency communications, but have not registered with ARES or RACES, you still can give EMCOMM a try by contacting Gloucester County ARES Emergency Coordinator Karl W2KBF (w2kbf (at) arrl (dot) net) and I will find a role for you.
GC-ARES has requested and received permission from GCARC to use the W2MMD 2-meter repeater to coordinate this exercise (we also will use 146.535 MHz FM simplex). Activation of the SET will be announced over the repeater on Saturday and stations checking in will receive assignments. We will be simulating a communications failure due to a “Derecho” weather event and will focus primarily on serving the regional office of the National Weather Service and County Office of Emergency Management. Volunteers may be asked to compose and send reports of simulated storm damage and/or relay messages from other stations using simplex. Due to the Pandemic, social distancing will be observed and it will not be necessary for anyone to operate outside of their own home or mobile stations. Doesn’t this sound like good, clean fun with radio?
By Karl Frank, W2KBF
Update : September 21, 2020
Gloucester County Radio Amateurs are preparing for the annual ARRL/ARES 2020 Simulated Emergency Test (SET) that will take place on Saturday, October 3rd. The purpose of the annual SET is for amateur radio operators to apply their emergency communications skills in a realistic simulation of an emergency event that could occur. The SET is not a contest, but an opportunity to practice operating. All interested Radio Amateurs are invited to participate; membership in ARRL, ARES, or RACES is not required. If you are interested in emergency communications, but have not registered with ARES or RACES, you still can give EMCOMM a try by contacting Gloucester County ARES Emergency Coordinator Karl W2KBF (w2kbf (at) arrl (dot) net) and I will find a role for you.
GC-ARES has requested and received permission from GCARC to use the W2MMD 2-meter repeater to coordinate this exercise (we also will use 146.535 MHz FM simplex). Activation of the SET will be announced over the repeater on Saturday and stations checking in will receive assignments. We will be simulating a communications failure due to a “Derecho” weather event and will focus primarily on serving the regional office of the National Weather Service and County Office of Emergency Management. Volunteers may be asked to compose and send reports of simulated storm damage and/or relay messages from other stations using simplex. Due to the Pandemic, social distancing will be observed and it will not be necessary for anyone to operate outside of their own home or mobile stations. Doesn’t this sound like good, clean fun with radio?
ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET)
By Karl Frank, W2KBF
Update : August 31, 2020
The Annual ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) will take place during the weekend of October 3 and 4 (see pg. 64 of the September QST) and Gloucester County ARES will participate. Why am I sending this to the entire GCARC Membership? While I anticipate participation mainly from GC-ARES and GC-RACES personnel I also am open to participation from radio amateurs who are interested in Emergency Communications but are not registered with ARES or RACES. I suspect that, during an actual communications emergency, several Radio Amateurs may be on the air trying to help out, whether or not registered with ARES/RACES, and I would rather have you participate during this drill rather than remain on the sidelines.
This test has multiple purposes but, fundamentally, is meant to test the strengths and weakness of ARES, RACES, NTS and other groups in providing emergency communications. I am not authorized to reveal specific details but can tell you that it will involve a simulated weather-related disaster during which normal communications are disrupted.
At this time, I am NOT looking for commitments, but simply a list of people who MAY be interested in participating so that I can follow up later.
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, SET 2020 will NOT require us to congregate at any point - all operations can take place without leaving our personal home and/or mobile stations. In particular, I will be looking for people who can serve as :
All stations will be encouraged to use emergency power for at least part of this exercise. This will be a great opportunity to test those batteries and generators.
Karl Frank, W2KBF
Gloucester County ARES Emergency Coordinator
kbfrank3@verizon.net
By Karl Frank, W2KBF
Update : August 31, 2020
The Annual ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) will take place during the weekend of October 3 and 4 (see pg. 64 of the September QST) and Gloucester County ARES will participate. Why am I sending this to the entire GCARC Membership? While I anticipate participation mainly from GC-ARES and GC-RACES personnel I also am open to participation from radio amateurs who are interested in Emergency Communications but are not registered with ARES or RACES. I suspect that, during an actual communications emergency, several Radio Amateurs may be on the air trying to help out, whether or not registered with ARES/RACES, and I would rather have you participate during this drill rather than remain on the sidelines.
This test has multiple purposes but, fundamentally, is meant to test the strengths and weakness of ARES, RACES, NTS and other groups in providing emergency communications. I am not authorized to reveal specific details but can tell you that it will involve a simulated weather-related disaster during which normal communications are disrupted.
At this time, I am NOT looking for commitments, but simply a list of people who MAY be interested in participating so that I can follow up later.
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, SET 2020 will NOT require us to congregate at any point - all operations can take place without leaving our personal home and/or mobile stations. In particular, I will be looking for people who can serve as :
- Net Control Stations (we may have more than one Net)
- Digital Traffic Coordinator (we will use FLDIGI and Winlink in addition to traditional voice messaging)
- Liaison to other groups, e.g. SKYWARN, NTS, S.C.E.R.N. and served agencies (such as OEM and American Red Cross)
- Relay stations (in the event that we use simplex)
All stations will be encouraged to use emergency power for at least part of this exercise. This will be a great opportunity to test those batteries and generators.
Karl Frank, W2KBF
Gloucester County ARES Emergency Coordinator
kbfrank3@verizon.net
GC-ARES/American Red Cross Drill - May 30, 2020
By Karl Frank W2KBF
GC-ARES Emergency Coordinator
On Saturday, May 30, 2020, four members of Gloucester County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (GC-ARES) participated in a joint drill exercise between ARES and the American Red Cross (ARC).
The Drill Scenario : A series of cyberattacks had been taking place for several days with the result that large regions across the United States were without power. People were running out of food. Phone service and Internet had become overloaded and sporadic. In response, the ARC set up Family Assistance Centers and Points of Distribution to provide mass care in affected areas. Through its Memorandum of Understanding with the ARRL, the ARC requested Amateur Radio support from ARES.
The Response : On Saturday, May 30, 2020, local ARES organizations were activated in the affected areas to establish communications coordination with the ARC. Because of current social distancing requirements we simulated attendance at a fictitious shelter in Pitman; nobody had to leave their home station. In Gloucester County there were four volunteers who registered for this drill :
At 9 AM, Karl W2KBF activated the Drill Exercise using the W2MMD 2 Meter repeater. All three messages were sent successfully to W2KBF over the repeater and, as required by the drill protocol, forwarded these messages by RF using Winlink to our Section Emergency Coordinator Tom WB2ALJ (we were simulating a communications emergency so Internet email was not permitted). Tom then routed the messages to the appropriate ARC personnel. This required some prior homework on the part of participants because we had not trained previously on use of ARC forms and had little experience in porting messages from FLDIGI/FLMSG into Winlink.
Post Drill Notes : It took approximately 20 minutes to pass the three drill messages within the county and it took about an hour after that to upload the messages via an 80 meter Winlink RMS station. However GC-ARES completed its tasks by 11 AM. Participants commented that it was an enjoyable exercise and a really good learning experience, although we could have used more time to prepare. The next ARES drill is planned for October when GC-ARES will participate in the annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET).
By Karl Frank W2KBF
GC-ARES Emergency Coordinator
On Saturday, May 30, 2020, four members of Gloucester County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (GC-ARES) participated in a joint drill exercise between ARES and the American Red Cross (ARC).
The Drill Scenario : A series of cyberattacks had been taking place for several days with the result that large regions across the United States were without power. People were running out of food. Phone service and Internet had become overloaded and sporadic. In response, the ARC set up Family Assistance Centers and Points of Distribution to provide mass care in affected areas. Through its Memorandum of Understanding with the ARRL, the ARC requested Amateur Radio support from ARES.
The Response : On Saturday, May 30, 2020, local ARES organizations were activated in the affected areas to establish communications coordination with the ARC. Because of current social distancing requirements we simulated attendance at a fictitious shelter in Pitman; nobody had to leave their home station. In Gloucester County there were four volunteers who registered for this drill :
- Bob KD2NEC was assigned to use FLDIGI/FLMSG to send a shelter request message using an ARC-6409 form.
- Glenn N2YIO was assigned to send a message using an ARC-213 form.
- Mark W2OCY sent a Shelter Report using the appropriate American Red Cross form.
- Karl W2KBF acted as the Net Control and was the receiving station.
At 9 AM, Karl W2KBF activated the Drill Exercise using the W2MMD 2 Meter repeater. All three messages were sent successfully to W2KBF over the repeater and, as required by the drill protocol, forwarded these messages by RF using Winlink to our Section Emergency Coordinator Tom WB2ALJ (we were simulating a communications emergency so Internet email was not permitted). Tom then routed the messages to the appropriate ARC personnel. This required some prior homework on the part of participants because we had not trained previously on use of ARC forms and had little experience in porting messages from FLDIGI/FLMSG into Winlink.
Post Drill Notes : It took approximately 20 minutes to pass the three drill messages within the county and it took about an hour after that to upload the messages via an 80 meter Winlink RMS station. However GC-ARES completed its tasks by 11 AM. Participants commented that it was an enjoyable exercise and a really good learning experience, although we could have used more time to prepare. The next ARES drill is planned for October when GC-ARES will participate in the annual Simulated Emergency Test (SET).
ARES/RACES Net, Sunday evenings at 8 PM on the 147.18 MHz (PL 131.8) repeater in Pitman, NJ. All Amateur Radio operators are welcome to join in. Our mission is to provide Emergency Communications capabilities to Gloucester County, NJ using the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES).
We are affiliated with the Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club and the South Counties Emergency Radio Network (SCERN). Are you an Amateur Radio operator living in or near Gloucester County, NJ with an interest in Public Service and/or Emergency Communications? Come join us!
Gloucester Alert
Gloucester County uses Gloucester Alert to immediately contact you during a major crisis or emergency. Gloucester Alert delivers important emergency alerts, notifications and updates to you on all your devices:
When an incident or emergency occurs, authorized senders will instantly notify you using Gloucester Alert. This alert system is your personal connection to real-time updates, instructions on where to go, what to do, or what not to do, who to contact and other important information.
- e-mail account (work, home, other)
- cell phone
- text pager
- BlackBerry
- Palm pilot and/or PDA
When an incident or emergency occurs, authorized senders will instantly notify you using Gloucester Alert. This alert system is your personal connection to real-time updates, instructions on where to go, what to do, or what not to do, who to contact and other important information.